Political Quotes

“I have been rather disappointed on several occasions in the last couple weeks when it was mentioned by some that perhaps this was a political argument. I want to assure everyone this has nothing to do with politics whatsoever. My concern and my interest comes from 22 years as an educator, 22 years as a teacher, a guidance counselor, a principal, a superintendent of schools, a supervisor of student teachers, a school board president, a PTA president. My concern is based simply on the fact that I believe I have learned a lot in those 22 years as to how children learn, why children do not learn, and what one does in order to have children learn. As a matter of fact, in March 1991 I wrote an op ed, and that was during President Bush's administration, in opposition to this very same issue. We are told, first of all, that 17-year-olds in this country, some of the most recent statistics would indicate that 52 percent read fairly well, comprehend fairly well, and do math and science quite well. That means that the other 50 percent do poorly.”